1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to a support material for a pillow or for slippers. More particularly, it relates to support material a having an hourglass shape.
2. Background Art
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/175,681 discloses a comfort pillow having a pellet filling. The pellet filling has a plurality of spherical hot stamped pellets, whereby, small fibers are connected to each neoprene pellet. The small fibers extend from the surface of each neoprene pellet. It would be more desirable for the support material to provide more comfort to a user and to increase airflow circulation around the support material to have a cooling effect. Thus, there is a need for a support material having an hourglass shape. This improved support material shape eliminates the need for the introduction of miniature fibers onto the pellet during the hot stamping process which drastically reduces costs of manufacturing.
Currently, commercially available support material for pillows includes open-celled foam or feathers. These pillows may not maintain their original shape after repeated use from a user. Additionally, many pillows contain support material that cannot withstand being washed in a washing machine without destroying the shape of the pillow, thereby, rendering the pillow useless for supporting a user. Thus, there is a need for a support material capable of being washable so that the pillow can be sanitized while maintaining the intended pillow shape.
Previously, certain support materials used for filling an object such as a slipper cannot maintain the shape of the slipper after being subjected to the force from the weight of a user standing on the slipper. For instance, the support material of a slipper being a single layer of foam will conform to the shape of a user's foot as the weight is forced upon the support material. However, eventually over time, the foam loses its structural ability to reform it's original shape when a user removes the force from their body weight from the support material. What is therefore needed is a support material capable of supporting a user and maintaining the shape of the object being filled after repeated use of the object by a user.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled.